Young Coders Academy Opens In Cabot
by July 23, 2015 8:32 am 338 views
Young Coders Academy, an innovative after school program offering computer science in a project-oriented environment for students in grades 5-12, celebrated its grand opening in Cabot on Monday, July 21st.
Students enrolled in the program will have the opportunity to learn from a broad curriculum that includes programming, game building, web development, electronics, and robotics.
After finding that there was a lack of after school activities focused on science and mathematics for her son to participate in, Lee Ann Benson decided to start Young Coders Academy.
Initiated last spring at Valley View Junior High in Jonesboro, the pilot program gave students the opportunity to work in teams while learning to program robots to solve problems and accomplish tasks.
“The Young Coders Academy is complementary to what we are trying to accomplish in the classroom. Students are able to apply math and science skills in a fun way, which helps with long term retention” said Valley View Junior High Principal, Barry Jones.
Although Arkansas recently became the first state in the country to require a computer science class in every high school, currently only 2.5% of college students are graduating with a major in computer science.
With the Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting a gap of 1 million computing jobs in the U.S. in 2020,”it is imperative to give students the opportunity to develop an interest in computer related fields at an early age and continue pursuing those interests throughout secondary school” said Young Coders Academy Founder Lee Ann Benson.
“If there aren’t enough computer science graduates to fill these jobs, they will most likely be filled internationally, which could potentially have a $400 billion dollar impact on our economy,” Benson said.
Young Coders Academy will begin their first session the week of August 17th. Prospective students and parents can stop by for an open house from 6:00pm to 8:00pm every Monday through Thursday at their location at 1011 N 2nd Street, Suite F in Cabot to preview the program and register for classes.
Read more here or follow them on Twitter @YoungCodersAca.